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Im currently running this board in a CoolerMaster N200 mATX build and its awesome! Just like the sabertooth its rock solid and built to last until upgrade 4-5 years...i7 4770MSI GTX 780 Ti 1225mhz8gb 2400 GskillAX860

Yeah, haha, all my systems last far beyond 5 years - but that's because I refuse to use ASUS motherboards! ASUS hasn't made quality motherboards for 15 years. Every month I see hundreds of ASUS motherboards thrown out because they died or have some problems. MSI also has a high failure rate, but unlike ASUS, they actually honor their warranty.Reply

Yeah, haha, all my systems last far beyond 5 years - but that's because I refuse to use MSI motherboards! MSI hasn't made quality motherboards for 15 years. Every month I see hundreds of MSI motherboards thrown out because they died or have some problems. Asus also has a high failure rate, but unlike MSI, they actually honor their warranty.Reply

They are both trolls....I handle multiple MB vend/manf. on a daily basis and Asus is still one of the best consumer/enthusiast brands available simply as that....MSI is right up there as well with their xpower etcReply

My hate is strictly for ASUS' motherboards and RMA process. Everything else I've seen from ASUS has been of reasonable to excellent quality. 'munim' is someone not related to me. I'm not going to give specific examples or identify myself, but since the 90s I've worked as a technician, at very large reseller (at one time was the largest reseller of video cards in the world - although we sold every other part too), and currently at an electronics recycling company. I see things on an enormous scale and from a unique perspective. We see tons of the latest technology running through our doors, and ASUS motherboards are a running joke (from my experience their reliability has been spotty since their Socket A / 462 boards - prior to that they were bulletproof). Anyhow, no one has to believe a word of what I just said - won't affect me one way or the other.Reply

5thaccount, did it ever occur to you the reason you saw so many Asus returns is because they are the largest motherboard manufacturer in the world, and chances are if a noobie builder is buying a board, it's going to be...Asus?Reply

I am currently in litigation with ASus over a $350 motherboard they said was defective but have not returned to me. They have spent at least $5000 not to fight the suit and not return the board. They tortured me with emails, unanswered, and chat instructions for days before issuing a RMA. Do not buy a product from them with a five year warranty as it guarantees that you will be abused by them for 5 years rather than protected from failures.Reply

lol thats so dumb is ridicoulos. Asus makes excellent board, they have always done at least in the past 10 years since ive been building my own rig. Always use them Id rather get a lower specced Asus board than a higher specced msi or gigabyte. This is not just me speaking from experience, you can read forums upon forums of people expressing similar opinions. You're either trolling or got extremely unlucky. I just sold an x38 asus p5e board for over 100 bucks on ebay if that says anything. Reply

I had a bad experience with an ASUS motherboard a few builds ago - which was actually something like 6 years now. The board was overvolting the RAM, so initially it would appear stable, and then degrade after a few months and start locking up with increasing frequency. I replaced the power supply, and the RAM twice before I figured out what was actually going on.

Searching for information about the issue revealed that it was actually a relatively common problem, and that the voltages displayed in the BIOS couldn't be trusted. A workaround was to manually set the RAM voltage lower, to a number that appeared to be out-of-spec. I wasn't sure how much of an offset needed to be set though, and eventually the board destroyed that set of RAM sticks too. At that point I got rid of the board.

Since then, I have been wary about purchasing another ASUS motherboard. It was probably just that model that was problematic, but having other options, it's still hard to choose to go back to a manufacturer that shipped boards with an issue as significant as that. Especially when they typically want a premium for their boards, too.Reply

I have one, too, quite happy with it. My only "complaint" is that the armor kit comes separately for a rather expensive price too, so that made what I paid pretty high all total. Still there are other premium small form factor mainboards in that price range (board+armor kit) - and with a 3 year warranty in stead of 5.

The lower priced sound solution is a plus for me because I don't use mainboard sound, so the less it adds to the cost of the board the better for me. :)Reply

Firestrike or any benchmark numbers are irrelevant without knowing what resolution and settings. The same benchmark run at 800x600 and Low settings will score totally different number when run at 1920x1080 Ultra settings.Reply

I currently use Asus Sabertooth x58 MB and it works quite well: 211 base clock, CPU 2.8 -> 4.0 with minimal overvolt, RAM 1333 -> 1700, good placement of extension slots, PCI slot (I use it!).The only complain is NB is really hot and I was not comfortable with designed passive cooling so had to stick cooler on it.

It may not have many fancy features of top boards but indeed looks solid. MB before that was Biostar TPower x58 which died exactly a month after warranty ended.Reply

Same here, have been running a i7 950 @ 4.2 ghz in the Sabertooth X58, and except an Ethernet port failure (which I'm not sure when it happened, I was using a dedicated card for Ethernet early on but accident plugged it into the built in after a computer move and it refused to be recognized by windows) it still runs like a champ. Reply

I was kind of hoping for an analysis of exactly how TUF motherboards differ from the rest. Technical details, specific component lists with a look at their manufacturer specifications, you know -- hardcore Anandtech stuff.Yes, it has a longer warranty, but is that because the "TUF" voltage regulators are rated for higher temperature environments (and similar), or is it more a marketing gimmick?Reply

Exactly! I actually strongly considered this board on my last build for a CAD workstation... Reliability and stability were primary factors. In the end, their marketing actually turned me off. The marketing seems to be more about appealing to G.I. Joe / Call of Duty fans with the over-the-top website, colors, and military lingo. I just wanted a "professional" geared board. I get the impression it might be a good board for less than ideal environmental conditions, still no idea if the board really would be any better in a typical office environment.Reply

If you really want to see what components they are, just remove the top heatsink on the MOSFETS and there should be a product number on the Caps and the Mosfets and you can search them up along with the Inductors. Reply

Bingo. Does the "armor" actually do anything worthwhile? Or is that just an expensive gimmick? I noticed also that the IO plate seems to have an open vent in it. => I think I see a potential path for dust entry into the armor! And how do you get enough cooling air to the heatsinks around the CPU if they're covered by the armor?! Downdraft cooler?Reply

In terms of Heat dissipation, the aim from Asus is to keep external heat sources from conducting to the motherboard. Hence the Armour being made out of plastic. But the internal components on the motherboard also admit some heat so it is a double edged sword. The Armour is more of a Dust protector/Moisture shield. And yes there are potential airflow gaps that will allow dust to enter but it is much less dust compared to a motherboard without the ArmourReply

Have to agree with this. We need more info on what exactly the differences are between this and a "run-of-the-mill" Z87 board. Did they use different components (higher quality capacitors, voltage regulators, etc.)? Did they undergo more validation? Does the armor kit do anything worthwhile, and does it hamper cooling in any way?Reply

Here....I have used several for work related builds and one for myself they are awesome!

TUF Black Metallic capacitors, chokes, and MOSFETs are screened by seven rigorous military-grade tests to ensure superior lifespan even under the most demanding conditions.

The components used are of about server grade quality in other words its a bit better than a standard board/mid range board 100-250$ range...most boards these days are built to last but most do not come with 5 year warranty either...and someone whos been in the industry most boards are built to last just that so go more some go less etc...

Currently atm this and the genie are the best matx boards available to date.Reply

The TUF components used have still to be tested but considering they are willing to backup the board with a five year warranty shows that they won't actually be using average run of the mill mosfets, caps and inductors right? Since it would actually negatively effect them if they use crappy-average quality electronics since it will cost more for them to replace the entire board for defective mosfets or inductors.Plus, the TUF series has one thing no other motherboards have and that is the advance thermal management and monitoring software. Which in my opinion is what stands out the most on the TUF series.Reply

"The Gryphon also offers an additional ‘Fan Overtime’ feature which keeps the fans spinning after the system is shut down in order to allow the equilibration of air inside and outside the case. This can be seen as important in humid climates, where hot air inside the case can cause inside condensation as it cools down."

Can somebody explain to me why this would happen? If the air inside the case is just heated up air from the outside, then it absolute water content cannot be over the dew point of the outside air. So when you cool it back down to its original temperature, why would there suddenly be condensation? It's not like there are water reservoirs inside the case to saturate the air.Reply

No, the outside ambient air will always be cooler than the air inside the case in this scenario. Since fresh cool air is being pulled into the case and heated up and exhausted out the back. When your computer shuts down, the components don't just suddenly cool down to the ambient. It takes time and gradually the heat energy from the components will be transferred to the air inside the case. But if there is no 'Fan Overtime' the hot air will stay inside the case come into contact with the cold case panel and condense into liquid. But with Fan Overtime, the hot air is exhausted out of the case even after shut down.In more humid climates, the air has a higher % of moisture and therefore would cause a even bigger problem since more condensation will occur inside the computer increasing the probability of a component failure.Reply

I bought this board for my brother and after initial windows installation problem it is now working in his system with no problems, stable and more than enough for his needs.

The problemwe had was when we first tried to install Windows, installation was failing with "could not configure Windows on this computer’s hardware" error.It was solved by turning off Fast Boot which is default option.Reply

I buy Rampage and Maximus boards, but a friend of mine has bought Sabretooth. One pattern that i noticed is the lack of updates available for Sabretooth line when compared to the plethora of updates for Rampage and Maximus. Not a problem in Year 1 or Year 2, but with the TUF lines focus on longevity of 5 years, i wonder if ASUS will step up their commitment and continue to release updates in year 3, 4 and 5. What updates? things like drivers for controllers are not available for Windows 8 on a Sabretooth board thats 2 years old. My friend is going to be upgrading to either Maximus or Rampage next time and ditching the Sabretooth entirely. I doubt he would go near Gryphon with a bargepole for the same reasons. 5 year warranty is useless for anybody who keeps their software and OS up to date if ASUS dont bother providing updates beyond the bare minimum.Reply

Just a quicktip, you know the OEM shielding on the SupremeFX is bollocks right? The fact that it is shielded doesn't mean it is not prone to sound interference, if you can see it physically, sound can get to it.Reply

I recently purchased an Asus Motherboard and the problems started from day 1. The drivers update never works, the same for AI Suite III (there´s a lot of updates for this model in Asus webpage). After 2 months I still can´t install BitDefender cause a clock watchdog error.Asus technical support is the worst, mails comes and goes with no solution.I will not recommend this brand to anyone. The brand has a very good Marketing but the product and the service are very disappointment.Reply

I recently purchased an Asus Motherboard and the problems started from day 1. The drivers update never works, the same for AI Suite III (there´s a lot of updates for this model in Asus webpage). After 2 months I still can´t install BitDefender cause a clock watchdog error.Asus technical support is the worst, mails comes and goes with no solution.I will not recommend this brand to anyone. The brand has a very good Marketing but the product and the service are very disappointment.Reply